The theme All That Glitters is Not Gold was suggested by William
Lovelace
for the Jan-Feb 2008 edition of Salmonfly.Net. William has been a major steelhead fly contributor
to the site over the past year or more. The
suggestion was born out of the idea that Steelhead flies have evolved during the
latter years of the 20th Century and into the 21st in form
and materials. The use of “glitter” materials in steelhead flies ranges from
various types of tinsel bodies and ribs, to synthetic dubbing with opalescence,
to flashy synthetic materials for wings, toppings and tails. All have become
prevalent in modern steelhead flies and even more so in Pacific Salmon flies.

The
Steelhead flies that were widely known and fished in the first half of the twentieth
century, flies like the Thor,Black Demon, Royal Coachman,
Umpqua Special, and
Owl-Eyed Optic, and later the Skykomish Sunrise,
Skunk, Queen Bess,
Boss, Burlap, and Humboldt
Railbird were flies that were designed for large rivers with heavy currents.
Their design was probably inspired by the profile of the Royal Coachman patterns
designed by John Benns around the turn of the century for the Eel River (Rose, 2003)1.

They were large profile flies, tied on
heavy hooks that were meant to improve their sinkability in heavy water. Many of
these flies were tied in bright colors, but with fur and feather of definite
proportion and boundaries of color. Much of that began to change when Syd
Glasso’s flies became widely known in the Northwest.
Rose (2003 ) writes in his book
Steelhead Fly Fishing on the Olympic Peninsula,

If you hold one of Glasso’s patterns,
say a Sol Duc Spey, in one hand and a
Skykomish Sunrise in the other, the differences are
striking. The color schemes of the two flies aren’t that different …

…But
the Sykomish Sunrise has distinct boundaries between
the colors, while the Sol Duc Spey colors seem to
blend and create a shimmering effect in the water. The lines of the two flies
are also markedly different.

Glasso received much of his inspiration
from the Scottish Spey traditions. His flies though, were not only beautiful,
they were extremely effective. Though they were tied on a lighter hook, the
proportions of the fly created a larger profile, and with less bulky material
than the traditional steelhead flies, the sinkability improved.

Syd Glasso’s patterns did not receive
instant recognition. He fished successfully with them through the 50’s and 60’s,
but they were not mentioned in print until Trey Combs published color
plates of his flies in his1976
book,
Steelhead Fly Fishing and Flies. I refer to that book more extensively
in the article Summer Steelhead Fly Fishing. Since then, Spey flies have become
the recognized standard for excellence in the art of tying and fishing steelhead
flies, but it was also from the concept that Syd Glasso introduced of tying
steelhead flies with thinner bodies on lighter hooks like the
tinsel bodied flies like those presented by
William Lovelace in this issue.

And so, in recent years, the flash has
evolved from simple tinsels to holographic tinsels and mirages; Krystal flash,
or Twinkle as noted in Lawrence Finney’s fly
presentations; the flashy Estaz bodies of the flies
presented by Paul Smith, and even materials that reflect Ultra Violet light,
as noted in John Glaspy’s article in this issue
A Simple
Approach to Flies for Alaskan Salmon in August.Some of the flies presented in this issue are traditional steelhead
flies, others are for Pacific Salmon, and one is even for a species never
mentioned on this site before, The Tarpon Gurgler in Dennis Dickson’s article “Just
Keep Reeling Bette”. New, flashy materials are here to stay, regardless of
whether or not you use them in your own tying.

But why should they not. They can exist
side by side with the old. The traditional flies will not go away, nor will they
be forgotten. I, for one will do my part to make sure of that.
The role of Syd Glasso and other
well-known tyers in bringing the
richness of the classic Speys to
steelhead fly tying will be etched in time and preserved in the steelhead books
and literature as long as there are fish to be caught .